1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an improved packaging machine for inserting product to be packaged into packaging means, in particular for inserting a product packed in bags into preferably folding boxes.
The invention relates to a packaging machine for inserting product to be packaged into packaging means, in particular for inserting a product packed in bags into preferably folding boxes, as generically defined in further detail by the preamble to claim 1.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Fundamentally, a package or packaging means represents a separable wrapping of goods or a product to be packaged that makes it possible for the goods or product to be packaged, closed, and prepared for shipment. Moreover, packaging means are intended to simplify the production process in such a way that no further transfer operations occur. In addition, packaging means should also be usable as advertising media and should protect the product to be packaged against pressure, impact, moisture, and temperature; it should make storage easier; it should optimize portability and the use of space; it should make handling easier during sale; and it should assure that the package is suitably identified as to fragility, perishability, or danger, or for the sake of simpler or even automatable completion of orders.
For packaging product to be packaged, packaging machines or machines and systems are used for partially or fully automatic production of a package, for packing or dispensing certain quantities of a product, and for decoration and labeling of the package. Numerous versions of packaging machines exist; each type of machine is customized to the processing of certain packaging materials and to the use of special technologies. Depending on the material to be packaged, distinctions are made among machines for liquids, for pastelike, doughy and viscous compositions, for bulk goods, for individual parts, for solid parts, for parcels, or the like. Given the sometimes extensive work operations in the packaging system, machines suitable for the various operations are lined up in succession.
The first work step includes the fabrication and preparation of the package for receiving the goods. Bags, cups, small tubes, or the like are created from strips of paper, metal or plastic film by means of adhesive bonding, welding, and shaping. Ampules are sterilized; folding boxes are stamped out and prepared. Next, the material to be filled, or product to be packaged, is metered and introduced into the intended package. Metering in terms of the volume, mass, or number of parts is done by means of controlled valves, metering screws, weighing devices, and apportioning devices. Next, the package is closed, to suit the material filling it and the packaging material; this can be done by folding, glueing, welding, and the insertion or application of a closure in a natural atmosphere, in a vacuum, or in an inert gas environment.
A second packaging operation often follows, during which the packed goods are wrapped for instance with instructions for use and a folding box.
Particularly during the second packaging operation, the possibility exists that the product to be packaged to be introduced into the packaging means will have a larger cross section than the opening cross section of the packaging means. Especially with products such as bottles or tubes, as well as bags, that have nonhomogeneous surfaces, the height of the product to be packaged is greater than that of the packaging means, which puts undesirable restrictions on a packaging operation.
To reduce or eliminate the limitation of the packaging operation, in the industry a change has been made so that packaging means embodied as folding boxes are opened wider on a top side by means of one or more vacuum devices, so that the opening cross section of a folding box can be enlarged in a manner that improves the packaging operation.
In packaging machines that operate intermittently, opening a folding box more widely by means of vacuum devices is done while a conveyor device for furnishing packaging means is at a standstill in the area of an insertion zone, where the product to be packaged is introduced into the packaging means.
However, it is disadvantageous that the operation of widening a folding box is done before the product to be packaged is actually inserted into the opened folding box, and once the product to be packaged has been inserted, the vacuum device or devices must be detached from the folding box before the filled folding box call be transported onward in the packaging machine. This undesirably lengthens the dwell time of the folding box in the insertion zone of the packaging machine, thus lessening the throughput of the packaging machine.
If worsening of the throughput of a packaging machine is to be avoided, then a shorter packaging time is available for the insertion operation. Since during the packaging the insertion operation itself is a very time-dependent, sensitive operation, problems that are exacerbated by speeded-up procedures easily occur during this phase, and hence shortening the cycle time of the insertion operation makes the packaging machine more vulnerable to problems.
A prerequisite of widening a folding box by means of a vacuum device is a nonpositive engagement between the vacuum device and the folding box; the nonpositive engagement is affected by various factors, such as the cardboard quality, pressure drop, wear of the suction device, or dirt. However, these factors disadvantageously mean that the operation of widening a folding box cannot be performed with the same quality throughout a packaging process.
In addition, the position of a top flap of a folding box is indefinite, and if the positioning is unfavorable, it can impair both the process of inserting the product to be packaged into the folding box and the operation of widening the folding box itself. If widening and cross-sectional enlargement of a folding box by means of vacuum devices is to be feasible at all, the top flap must be located in a position that is parallel to the top side of the folding box. This is due to the fact that in positions in which the top flap, in the area of a creased edge, is pivoted relative to the surface of the folding box in such a way that the top flap and the surface of the folding box form an angle smaller than 180°, the top flap stabilizes the creased edge and hinders the desired enlargement of the opening cross section of the folding box by means of vacuum devices.
In order nevertheless to be able to perform widening of a folding box even at disadvantageous positions of the top flap, the widening operation is performed during the operation of inserting product to be packaged into the folding box; an insertion device that is located above the product to be packaged is introduced, during the insertion operation, into the folding box before the product to be packaged in order to widen the opening cross section of the folding box.
However, it is then disadvantageous that the insertion device must be in the lead, ahead of the actual insertion of the product to be packaged, and must be moved out of the folding box before the product to be packaged is inserted; this kind of procedure is therefore characterized by being highly dynamic and must be performed with extreme precision, if damage to the packaging means or to the product to be packaged is to be avoided.
Both widening by means of a vacuum and widening a folding box by lifting one side of the box from its underside have the disadvantage that during an insertion operation, a top flap is not necessarily located in a verifiable position relative to the associated surface of the folding box, so that upon disadvantageous stabilization of the creased edge during the operation of widening the folding box, impermissibly strong deformation forces may have to be exerted under some circumstances, and these can cause damage to the folding box.
The present invention therefore has the object of making a packaging machine available by means of which the aforementioned disadvantages are avoided in a simple and economical way.